Former WWE Monday Night RAW commentator Rob Bartlett was interviewed on the Inside The Ropes radio show last week as part of their new ‘Where Are They Now?’series. Bartlett, who worked for WWE briefly during the early 1990’s, spoke about the very first episode of RAW, working with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage and why he left the company after just a few months.

Memories of first getting there and working with Randy Savage:

I’d not only heard of Randy Savage, but I’d taken my son to an event at The Garden, I think it was when he got married to Miss Elizabeth in the ring so I knew of him. He was the most unbelievably kind and helpful true gentleman. Went out of his way to try and help me along. Gave me some inside tips, and really could not have been any more welcoming or helpful. He was a great personality and a great, great man.

If he felt Randy enjoyed being on commentary rather than wrestling:

I think he definitely enjoyed being a commentator because it was different for him. Obviously he was very knowledgable. But I think all of the guys, their first love is the ring. I remember when he did get back in the ring, which he did once or twice in those first couple of months, he really rose to the occasion and turned into this other person. He was getting older and I think in many ways he was grateful for the easier gig of sitting outside the ring but once he stepped back in, you could tell he still had the passion for it.

The first RAW in 93:

It was held in the Manhattan Center which had been an old hotel. So they shot it in one of the ballrooms there. We had pre production meetings every week in this back room, where they’d run down all the matches that night. I remember on that first episode I made a joke about Yokozuna and talking about how it looked like he was wearing a diaper. I turned and said on air “that’s one big oriental, Vince” so I think I set the tone and it went downhill from there (laughs) It was exciting. It was an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of. Vince was really taking a chance and trying to take a chance and do something new and different. It was a lot of fun.

Why he made the decision to leave the WWF in April of 93:

I think Vince knew it wasn’t working. He probably would have let me stay for a while in hopes that we could’ve found some way to make it work. But i basically resigned or quit to Kevin Dunn and he was sad to see me go because he thought we could’ve done something. I just felt like the chemistry wasn’t there. The sensibilities were quite far apart. I wasn’t familiar enough with the world or the rules of the universe aswell as I should have been. The kind of comedy I did, didn’t fit in too well with what they were doing. Part of the problem is you can’t make fun of something that doesn’t take itself too seriously to begin with. Not that the wrestlers weren’t serious, you know they took their craft very seriously but with Doink The Clown and stuff, it was hard to poke fun at it.

To hear the full interview where Rob talks about how he landed the WWF gig, who The Steiner Brothers compared him to, imitating Vince on RAW and more, head to Facebook.com/theinsidenetwork.

Deadspin.com published an article on Monday revealing that a Reddit.com user has been posting 100% accurate results to WWE pay-per-view events. It all started back February, when where one user started a “prediction series” on the “Squared Circle” sub-section of Reddit.com. Users were encouraged to give their picks for who would win each of the matches at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. One user, Dolphins1925, posted his picks just minutes before the event began. Additionally, he noted,

“I will win this guaranteed. I know all the winners.”

Dolphins1925 went on to correctly predict every outcome at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. This feat in itself is impressive – but not indicative of anything suspicious. However, he continued his streak of perfect predictions for the next 5 WWE pay-per-views, racking up a PPV match prediction record of 38-0.

The user claims he does not work for WWE personally, but has a reliable source who does. He claims the reason he’s revealing the results is to embarass the company and point out just how leaky its’ ship really is. Dolphins1925 wrote,

“I am hoping that spreading the word will get WWE’s attention. I am hoping that it will put a stop to spoilers from being leaked.”

After Elimination Chamber, Dolphins1925 switched up his style. No longer simply replying to the aforementioned “prediction series” thread, the user began creating his own threads. Instead of posting match outcomes as predictions, the user started publishing them as “spoilers.”

This began, oddly enough, with the biggest annual WWE event of the year. Surely, Dolphins1925 would miss a match or two here due to last-minute changes. Right? Wrong. Dolphins published his WrestleMania “picks” (spoilers) with the following headline:

[SPOILERS] WrestleMania RESULTS inside this thread. 100% accurate. Do NOT click until after watching if you don’t want WM to be spoiled. [SPOILERS]

Dolphins again was 100 percent accurate with his picks. While he not only correctly predicted the eight matches on the pay-per-view, he also picked the winner of the dark match held prior to the show, as well as one that was scheduled but later bumped to the following night’s WWE RAW show.

Another interesting turn came when the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view rolled around. While Dolphins technically went eight-for-eight with his picks, he did not do so without a small amount of controversy. The user had claimed John Cena would win the match and retain the WWE Championship against Ryback. The match went on to end in a No Contest, however, Cena did retain his Championship.

After that happened, Dolphins decided to post a lengthy explanation as to what exactly is going on. Dolphins wrote:

I would like to clarify once again that I DO NOT work for WWE. I am not a WWE Superstar, I am not with; the lighting crew, the camera crew, the sound technicians, the stagehands, the prop guys, the merchandise sellers, nor the popcorn vendor in the 15th Row, “Congratulations, Louie!”

 

I am just a WWE fan like everyone else, and I am getting my information from a source who has VERY credible inside information regarding the outcomes (win/losses) of the matches themselves. Given that this information is out there, we both feel that I should continue to share this information until it garners the attention of WWE. Vince and upper management are not taking reasonable measures to prevent this information from being leaked. These people whom are leaking this information are profiting off it at the expense of the WWE, the fans, and the integrity of the product. It is for these reasons that I am hoping to put an end to WWE insiders leaking PPV outcomes.

 

Also, I feel that WWE owes the fans. They need to be more protective of the actual results as a fellow Redditor had stated in the thread. It is hurting the integrity of the product, and I should not have access to this information.

According to the Deadspin article, WWE was not aware of Dolphins1925 until this week.

Dolphins went on to nail seven or seven matches at the next pay-per-view, WWE Payback. This time, he decided to get a bit specific on one of his picks as he noted about the Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler match, “sounds like a bizarre match,” wrote Dolphins. He was correct once again. The World Heavyweight Championship changed hands in the match and there was a rare double-turn.

This past Sunday night, Dolphins was going to face his biggest test thus far. WWE Money In The Bank. With two ladder matches, one with six competitors and one with seven, the odds of Dolphins correctly picking every match, let alone just those two, without reliable inside knowledge directly from WWE, were slim-to-none.

So how did he do this time? Eight for eight. He nailed the unpredictable Damien Sandow and Randy Orton ladder match victories, to the dismay and shock of the r/SquaredCircle forum members.

Dolphins1925 created his Reddit account in February and has not used it for anything other than his predictions/spoiler posts. He has not replied to a single message sent through the site.

As mentioned, WWE wasn’t aware of Dolphins until this week. Now that the company is aware, they released the following statement:

“We may have a modern day Nostradamus on our hands. We might have to monitor these posts in advance of our next pay-per-view to see how good he or she really is.”

More SHOCKING Details On This CRAZY Story!

WWE will tape both SmackDown and Main Event tonight in Providence, Rhode Island.

Expect more fallout from Money In The Bank last Sunday, including the latest for World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, now that Dolph Ziggler is shifting to a feud with Big E. Langston and AJ Lee.

Confirmed for the SmackDown tapings is a MizTV segment with The Miz interviewing Paul Heyman regarding the CM Punk/Brock Lesnar angle on RAW, and the betrayal by Heyman at Money In The Bank.

Additionally, SmackDown will feature the return of Rob Van Dam as part of RVD’s Return Tour.

The dark match main event being advertised locally is Chris Jericho & Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. The Shield.

Make sure to check back later tonight for WWE SmackDown and Main Event television spoiler results.

LIVE WWE SmackDown *SPOILER* Coverage TONIGHT!

The following are quick-results of the matches taped for WWE Superstars at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Monday night:

-Tons Of Funk defeated The Prime Time Players. Crowd was into PTP, but they did an effective job of playing heel to get the crowd behind TOF.

-Ryback defeated The Brooklyn Brawler. Brawler had an offensive flury early on, but ultimate Ryback won with relative ease.

-The Miz defeated Heath Slater. Miz picked up the victory here with the Figure-Four Leglock.

Huge WWE SummerSlam *SPOILERS*

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights about what JR wrote about:

WWE’s New Performance Center:  “No one is more excited than am I about the Performance Center. Years ago our team had a vision to start the Development Program in WWE and I always dreamed that we would have a state of the art facility someday but I never dreamed of anything the magnitude of what WWE now has.”

Sandow Winning MITB: “Never saw Damien Sandow’s win coming but thanks to hard work and re-inventing himself, Sandow is now the winner of MITB and his career got another boost Sunday night. Damien is a great example of never giving up and doing what one has to do improve himself and to eventually “make the team.” He’s also taken a piece of creative, made it his own, and has become what was creatively envisioned for him and more.”

John Cena vs. Mark Henry: “Cena vs, Henry was the type of match that I used to covet calling back in the day. Straight forward, easy to understand story that made sense. Of course,  those that aren’t Cena fans likely weren’t happy that Cena won but that’s nothing new. Mark Henry really came to play Sunday night and was impressive especially when one considers that he is a 400 pounder. I also loved the lighting for this WWE Title contest. It felt classic, old school.”

Randy Orton’s MITB Win: ” The final match of the evening, the MITB Ladder match for the WWE Title was a human demolition derby of epic proportions that delivered in a multi layered, big way. Several issues were forwarded, everyone in the match got an opportunity to shine and, at least for me, the winner, Randy Orton, was unexpected.”

There’s much more to the blog, which you can see at JRsBarBQ.com.